Sunday, February 16, 2014

Spring Training News And Notes: 2/15/14

First team workout was yesterday, and to no one's surprise the biggest story continued to be Masahiro Tanaka. Here were the major happenings from yesterday's session:

- Tanaka, along with fellow surefire starters CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, and Ivan Nova, all threw bullpen sessions yesterday. The coaching staff liked what they saw from Tanaka's session, which again consisted of 4-seamers, 2-seamers, sliders, and splitters.

- One part where Tanaka wasn't so strong was running. The team ran 4 laps after the pitching and hitting sessions and Tanaka told the media he was surprised by how much running they had to do, joking that the 4 laps were "pretty hard".

- Nova doesn't sound like he's taking anything for granted this spring, telling Bryan Hoch that he's treating this as though he's competing for a spot. Maybe he's starting to figure the game out mentally too.

- Still slowly working his way back from last year's wrist surgery, Mark Teixeira did some light infield drills and some light hitting work with Kevin Long. He's still probably a month away from being in full game shape.

- Not a huge deal, since he's just roster depth, but Yoshinori Tateyama has not arrived at camp yet because of visa issues. Strange that he'd have those considering he pitched in the US last season.